Benavidez Sr. forgets his son’s age, still predicts victory

Coach José Benavidez Sr. says his “20 years” His son, interim WBC light heavyweight champion David ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, will beat David Morrell on February 1 and then fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2.

20 or 28?

I’m not sure where Benavidez Sr. gets this idea that David is “20 years old” because he is 28 and it has a lot of mileage on its odometer.

I would say that Benavidez is closer to 38. He has been a professional since 2013 and is already starting to fall apart physically, with multiple injuries everywhere. Even if he was 20, he’d be up against it, fighting Cuban Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) in the main event in 23 days on PBC on Prime Video PPV.

It will be a tough fight for Benavidez, especially since he is beginning to decline physically after a long career with many wars. He has also had many wars in the gym because that is his style.

José Sr. also claims that Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) could move up to cruiserweight to face the winner of the unification fight between IBF champion Jai Opetaia and WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Zurdo ‘ Ramirez.

Beterbiev or Bivol next?

“We have to look impressive to make history and take on the other monsters in the division,” José Benavidez Sr. told Fight Hub TVtalking about his son, David Benavidez, needing to look good against David Morrell on February 1st.

“This is the best fight we have ever had. We have a younger fighter. A hungry fighter and he’s going to be explosive. It’s going to be very exciting. This is a fight we need to show our talents and show the world that David (Benavidez) can box, David can punch, he can be aggressive, he can counterpunch and he can cut the ring.

“So, there are a lot of things that fans are going to see in this fight. David Benavidez is only 20 years old (correction: he is 28). The plan is to move forward and fight David Morrell and have a chance with Bivol or Beterbiev and maybe even Zurdo Ramirez. That’s the plan,” said José Sr.

If Benavidez loses this fight, he can forget about fighting the winner of the Beterbiev vs. rematch. Bivol 2 or moving up to cruiserweight to challenge Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez for his WBA and WBO titles. José Sr. has been drunk on his son’s success since his days in 168, fighting against smaller and older fighters. So naturally, he’s talking as if his son, Benavidez, could get through everyone and continue doing what he’s been doing at super middleweight.

The Mexican Monster’s last fight at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 should have been a wake-up call for José Sr. because that fight showed that he is not the same guy at light heavyweight as he was at 168.

Cruiserweight dreams

“We want to face the monsters of the division,” said José Sr. “Zurdo Ramírez just got another belt (at cruiserweight). Yesterday we saw another champion, Jai. I think they can play each other and maybe we’ll face the winner. Like I said, David is only 20 years old..

“We are not afraid of losing our undefeated records, but we are not going to do it. I have a lot of confidence that he will come and destroy this guy and go on to bigger and better things,” José Benavidez Sr. said.

I hope José Sr. doesn’t fall apart if he sees Morrell knock out Benavidez and sees all his plans go down the drain. This would have happened anyway if Benavidez had been fighting where he should have been all along, at 175, instead of melting down to beat smaller fighters at 168.

This is typical of what we see today, with younger fighters fighting in weight classes where they have no business competing. They can get away with it when they are younger, but when they reach their 20s or 30s, the deal stops. They are forced to compete in weight classes appropriate to their size.